The ubiquity of electronic mail (“email”) introduces many issues for email users. For example, for many busy professionals, the amount of email received can be overwhelming. Individuals often have a limited amount of time in which to read email, and therefore may not be able to read every email in their inboxes at a given time. Given such a limited amount of time, individuals will typically choose to read those emails that are the most important (e.g., emails that require a reply, or emails that pertain to a particular important subject or were sent by a particular person). Quickly determining which emails are the most important, however, is not an easy task.
Moreover, many incoming emails and other user-supplied information include information regarding upcoming tasks or events in which the individual is expected to participate (e.g., a meeting). The individual may forget, however, to enter these tasks or events in his or her scheduling application. Alternatively, the individual may wish to invite other individuals to participate in a task or event, but may not have enough knowledge of the other individuals' schedules to select an appropriate time for the task or event. Thus, the problem of scheduling a task or event in which several individuals are expected to participate is complicated by the fact that each of these individuals may have constraints on when, where, or how they will be available for participation.
In addition, if an individual is in a rush to send an outgoing email, he or she may forget to add a file attachment or a carbon copy (“CC”) address to the outgoing email. This may result in the individual having to re-send the email, or in the email or file attachment not reaching the intended recipients.